U.S. Army Regimental System

United States Army organization system

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The United States Army Regimental System (USARS) is an organizational and classification system used by the United States Army. It was established in 1981 to replace the Combat Arms Regimental System (CARS) to provide each soldier with continuous identification with a single regiment, and to increase a soldier's probability of serving recurring assignments with their regiment. The USARS was intended to enhance combat effectiveness by providing the opportunity for a regimental affiliation, thus obtaining some of the benefits of the traditional regimental system.

USARS was developed to include all combat, combat support (CS), combat service support (CSS), special branches, and training battalions in the Regular Army, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve. It was developed to offer the opportunity for long term identification with a regiment or corps, provide the potential for recurring assignments within a regiment or corps, provide the opportunity to further emphasize the history, customs, and traditions of the regiment or corps, and provide regiments that are structured as one or more continental United States (CONUS) units of like type linked with one or more units of like type outside the continental United States (OCONUS), or one or more units of like type located exclusively in either CONUS or OCONUS, including one or more training battalions or tactical armored cavalry or ranger regiments. USARS is also designed to provide for CS, CSS, and special branches to operate on a “whole branch” concept as a corps or special branch, carrying on the activities and traditions of a regiment, offer regimental affiliation to allow soldiers the opportunity for continuous identification with a combat arms regiment, a corps, or special branch throughout their careers. USARS provides (through regimental affiliation) different opportunities for soldiers, depending upon which combat arms regiment they choose to be affiliated with or whether they affiliate with a CS or CSS corps or special branch. In addition, the regimental affiliation process allows combat arms soldiers to select the regiment of choice (soldiers can change their affiliation at any time); provides that CS, CSS, and special branch soldiers will automatically be affiliated with their corps or special branch; specifies that all soldiers will belong to a regiment or corps; permits no limit to the number of soldiers who can be affiliated with a regiment or corps; and provides that DA civilians can automatically be affiliated with a regiment or corps by direction of the regiment or corps commander.

Combat arms is a rescinded doctrinal term, though colloquially it includes air defense artillery, armor, aviation, cyber, field artillery, infantry, and special forces regiments. Combat arms soldiers may affiliate with any of the combat arms regiments consistent with their primary military occupational specialty (PMOS), specialty code, special qualification identifiers (SQI), or additional skill identifiers (ASI). Soldiers will have greater opportunities to serve recurring assignments in their regiments if regiments are chosen that have battalions in both CONUS and OCONUS locations. Since there is no ceiling on the number of soldiers who can affiliate with a particular regiment, the potential for recurring assignments to regiments is diminished where the number of affiliated soldiers exceeds the requirements.

Quoting from Chapter 3–2, page 7 of Army Regulation 600 82, U. S. Army Regimental System
(note: Currently the regulation for The U. S. Army Regimental System is Army Regulation 870 21):

a. USARS regiments offered to active Army and USAR soldiers for affiliation are listed [below]. (1) All active Army soldiers are required to affiliate with a regiment. Although affiliation is mandatory, the choice of regiment is left up to the individual. Officers who are single tracked in a Functional Area will affiliate with a regiment associated with their basic combat arms branch. Functional Area officers who have no basic branch will submit request for regimental affiliation using procedures outlined below. Regimental affiliation is based on the Army branch associated with a soldier’s PMOS or specialty. AR 670–1 contains a listing of all PMOS and corresponding branches for each. Army recruiters who have been assigned the SQI“4” will affiliate with a regiment associated with their PMOS. Recruiters or retention noncommissioned officers (NCOs) will be affiliated with The Adjutant General Corps. Regimental affiliation may be changed at any time; however, the regimental selection must be associated with the soldier’s PMOS or specialty. (2) All combat arms officers and soldiers will affiliate with a regiment upon arrival at their first unit of assignment. These Soldiers will be affiliated with their regiment of assignment unless they voluntarily select another. Combat arms officers and soldiers whose initial Army assignment is not to a regimental unit may defer selection until they are so assigned. (3) Enlisted soldiers may elect the Regiment of Choice Reenlistment Option under AR 601–280. (4) Soldiers who deliberately terminate airborne status after affiliating with an airborne regiment will change their affiliation to a non airborne regiment at the time of their termination. Those who are terminated for medical reasons may retain their regimental affiliation with an airborne regiment if they desire; however, such affiliation will be ceremonial and will not affect subsequent assignments. (5) Regimental affiliation will be a primary assignment consideration for officers and enlisted soldiers. To the maximum extent possible, soldiers who are regimentally affiliated will be assigned to their regimental units. No assignment guarantees will be made, as Army requirements and soldier professional development needs must be met; however, it is incumbent upon commanders and the personnel community to make every effort to ensure that requisitions are submitted for and filled with affiliated regimental Soldiers and that soldiers are subsequently assigned within their regiments. (See AR 614–100, and AR 614–185 for officers, and AR 614–200 for enlisted soldiers). b. Specific procedures for affiliation are below. These procedures permit affiliation and change of affiliation to be administered at the local Personnel Service Center (PSC) level. c. Active Army soldiers who are accessioned into the USAR will retain their regimental affiliation unless they elect to change their affiliation, which may be done at any time.

Note: There are currently 178 USARS regiments, with only 47 consisting of units at multiple locations. Some of the regimental battalions are assigned to brigade combat teams in multiple divisions. Only 27 of these regiments meet the USARS "Conus/Oconus goal." Additionally, the term "Regiment" was not officially appended to a USARS regiment's official name/designation (and was not used under CARS) until 2005.

The CS, CSS, and special branch regimental plans fully integrate into the USARS under the "whole branch" concept. It is the responsibility of all proponents to incorporate within their corps, the intent and spirit of the regimental system to provide soldiers the opportunity for affiliation. While this initiative mandates a uniform approach to regimental affiliation throughout the Army, it is a system that has no tradition within the Army and duplicates the sense of affiliation that CS, CSS, and special branch soldiers already had for their branch (Ordnance, Signal Corps, etc.)